The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

Anything can be used as a weapon if deployed in just the right way. That’s what a customer at a McDonald’s in Bordeaux, France learned when she was hit in the eye with a fry while waiting in line at a restaurant. A doctor diagnosed her with a lacerated cornea and told her to take ten days off work.

Fries weren’t flying through the air as part of a massive food fight or a new method of fry delivery being tested in McDonald’s restaurants overseas. No, the culprit was a classic bad consumer: a fellow customer who was impatient with the service and hurled a fry at the worker at the counter. It’s not clear how the customer thought that fry-chucking would help things along, but it doesn’t really matter: the fry hit a fellow customer waiting in line with her son and her partner, and not the intended target.

The local restaurant’s management contacted the injured woman to apologize and to check on the customer. That was very nice of them, since it’s not their fault that there happened to be a frite-hurtling jerk in the store that day.